Governor:
Gov. Bev Purdue
(D) announced on Jan. 26, 2011 that she would not seek
re-election. Republicans achieved a pick up as former
Charlotte
Mayor
Pat McCrory (R)
defeated Lt. Gov. Walter
Dalton
(D)
and
homemaker and frequent candidate Barbara
Howe
(L) by 54.62% to 43.23% and 2.12%.U.S. House:
Three
members retired: Sue Myrick (R), Heath Shuler (D) and Brad
Miller (D). Aided by
redistricting, Republicans took the balance of the delegation from 7D, 6R to 9R, 4D.In the 7th CD,
Rep. Mike McIntyre (D)
defeated David Rouzer (R)
by 654
votes, 168,695 (50.10%) to 168,041 (49.90%); this was the closest
congressional
race in the country.
In the 8th CD, Richard
Hudson (R) defeated
two-term Rep. Larry Kissell
(D)
by 53.16% to 45.37%.
In
the 9th CD, Robert Pittenger
(R) defeated Jennifer
Roberts (D) by 51.78% to 45.65% and 2.57% to Curtis Campbell
(L).
In the
11th CD, Mark Meadows (R)
defeated Hayden Rogers (D)
by 57.42% to 42.58%.
In the 13th CD, George
Holding (R)
defeated Charles Malone (D)
by 56.80% to 43.20%. State Legislature:
Republicans gained nine seats in the House, going from 68R, 52D to 77R, 43D, while the Senate
went from 31R, 19D to
32R, 18D.

Overview:Democrats
made
an
early
play
to
keep
North
Carolina in the blue column, choosing Charlotte to host
the
2012 Democratic National Convention. In contrast to 2008, when
the McCain and the Republicans paid relatively little attention to the
state until late in the campaign, Romney and the RNC were fully
engaged.
North Carolina was a
contested battleground state, with full campaign staffs and
plenty of ads, although it did not get as many candidate visits as
other contested states and was seen as leaning Republican. By
Oct. 18, the News &
Observerreported,
"Romney campaign begins moving staff out of
NC, confident of victory."(+) Romney-Ryan
won with a plurality of 92,004 votes (2.04 percentage points), carrying
70 counties to 30 for the Democratic ticket, and Republicans achieved gains
up and down the ballot.. General
Election DetailsObama | RomneyBALLOT
[PDF]

2008
OverviewObama-Biden carried North
Carolina for the Democrats for the first time since 1976, but it was
close, by a plurality of just 14,177 votes (0.32 percentage
points). Obama carried 33 counties to 67 for McCain. General
Election
DetailsObama/Allies
|
McCain/Allies
|
Nader

2004
OverviewThe Democratic
ticket has
not carried North Carolina since Jimmy Carter did in 1976, but Sen.
Kerry's
selection of Sen. Edwards as his running mate put the Tar Heel State
into
play. However the result was nearly the same as in 2000, as Bush
amassed a plurality of 435,317 votes (12.44 percentage points).General
Election DetailsKerry/Allies
|
Bush-Cheney
'04

In 1999, the NC
General Assembly
passed legislation to allow in-person, no-excuse absentee voting.
A voter could vote at any designated Absentee One-Stop voting site in
his
or her county from Oct. 16 to Nov. 3, 2000. 393,152 people did
so.
In addition there were 72,447 civilian absentee by mail votes and 3,766
military absentee returns.

2000
OverviewNorth Carolina,
which went
Republican by a very narrow margin in 1992, and a close but wider
margin
in 1996, went solidly into the GOP column in 2000, as Bush-Cheney
secured
a plurality of 373,471 votes (12.83 percentage points). Bush
carried
75 counties to 25 for Gore. Bush won every county in the western
part of the state and all the counties along the coast; Gore carried a
cluster of 8 counties in the SE and another cluster of 17 counties in
the
NE. North Carolina did not see much activity at the presidential
level, with the exception of the second presidential debate, held on
Oct.
11 at Wake Forest University.General
Election Activity

Notes:
North Carolina's
onerous ballot access requirements -- 51,324 signatures by May 17, 2000
-- resulted in a limited range of choices for the state's voters.
After the Nader campaign fell short, it went
to
court seeking an injunction to put him on the ballot. U.S.
District Judge W. Earl Britt turned down their request (Aug. 9 ruling),
and an appeal to the 4th Circuit likewise proved unsuccessful (Sept.
15).